Music Arcades: Yo La Tengo: Summer Sun

Summer Sun came out in the spring of 2003, just after I moved to London. I associate it with the flat I lived in then, the almost-archetypal converted warehouse in Shoreditch, just one big room (plus tiny shower room) and only yards away (over the roof) from the pad where Boy George did his misdeeds — though George didn't move in until later. I say 'almost' archetypal because it didn't have the double-height ceiling. That came later. Anyway, the reason I associate it with that place is probably that I haven't played it much since those days.

It's a softer, mellower album than YLT made before or subsequently. I was underwhelmed at the time. Of course, it's the mellow ones that are the growers and the keepers. I can imagine listening to this and being captivated by a different song each time. Though I suspect Don't Have to be So Sad would always be a favourite.

It's also an album where YLT supplemented their sound, very subtly, with contributions from jazz musicians playing trumpet, saxes and upright bass. I remember hearing Ira from the band being interviewed on Mixing It a year or so later, and commenting wryly on how the three members of YLT could never be as proficient players as the jazz guys, "they practise a lot more than us; practise and take heroin, that's all they do, all day." Or something like that, but perhaps not so directly libellous. He's the kind of guy I'd love to have round to dinner, as I may have said before.

And just a few weeks after Summer Sun came out, I went to see the band play. Here is what I wrote the next morning:

Yo La Tengo show how to make good music by relying on good taste. They look like they're not really trying very hard. The vocals — especially when Georgia is singing — are indistinct. Their songs don't give up their secrets easily (and the muddy acoustic of the Shepherds Bush Empire doesn't help). But they choose their sounds (muted guitar, unusual percussion etc), their grooves (gentle latin, jazz), their cover versions, and their influences very well.

Last night's gig wasn't them at their best. They played my two favourite songs in the second encore, and crapped on them both. But they still structured their set really well. They make the boring bits count. And that is a real craft. The show kept the same pleasant, low-key tempo for almost an hour, but when it took off and really started to move the journey was that much more visceral for having stood still so long. And I do like those cranked-up unhinged guitar maulings, backed by hypnotic rhythms. There aren't many bands who sound like Girl from Ipanema one moment and the Boredoms the next.